According to the Chinese government’s recently released urban planning report, the city of Shenzhen will need US$14.5bn of investment for the planned 365km extension to its urban rail length over the next 25 years.
The report has just been passed by an appraisal by experts in the city’s urban planning commission.
The experts expect that Shenzhen will have 50,000 minibuses and cars by 2010, which will saturate the city’s traffic capacity in rush hours. “It is urgent to build an urban rail traffic system to ease the congestion” they said.
Of the planned rail construction, 80 to 100km will be in subways, and the rest will be a ground level light rail system or elevated railway.
China’s first economic zone, built 21 years ago, Shenzhen has become an economic powerhouse in South China’s Guangdong Province with great potential for high-tech industries. However, surprisingly, the modern city does not yet have any facilities for urban rail traffic.
